UNSIGNED PREVIEW — not a promoted public release.
Actor: Darragh O'Brien TD
insufficient_evidenceTopic: housing
Office: Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage
Evidence: 20 events
Sources: 20
This promise by Darragh O'Brien TD has INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE for a rating. Only 20 evidence events were found. More research is needed before a reliable assessment can be made.
This promise is SPECIFIC (vagueness score: 35/100). It includes measurable targets or deadlines that make it trackable. Specific promises are easier to verify as kept or broken.
Issue category: housing
The School Transport 2030 review recommended changes including expansion of current eligibility criteria (reducing distance thresholds from 3.2km to 1km for primary, 4.8km to 2km for post-primary) and addressing operational issues. These were to be phased in from September 2025.
The Government published an Acute Inpatient Hospital Bed Expansion Plan targeting 4,367 acute hospital inpatient beds. The ESRI projects a need for 4,400-6,800 additional inpatient beds by 2040.
Cabinet approved the new NMH project to go to tender, with the building to be located on the eastern side of the St Vincent's campus.
The DART+ South West project received statutory approval (Railway Order) from An Coimisiún Pleanála on 13 November 2024, but construction has been deferred to at least 2030.
The HSE service plan pledges five additional surgical hubs in Cork, Waterford, Limerick, Galway, and North Dublin to open by end of 2025. Cork's surgical hub was expected to open between March and June 2025 and cater to 28,000 patients a year.
The HSE plans to open six surgical hubs across Ireland. When fully operational, each hub is targeted to deliver 4,000 extra day case procedures, 5,800 minor operations, and 18,500 outpatient appointments. The Mount Carmel hub (first to open) delivered 3,729 procedures in 2025, 24% above its target.
Tenders were sought in 2024 for the new National Maternity Hospital — a seven-storey, 50,000m²+ building with 244 beds at Elm Park on the St Vincent's campus. Projected completion is late 2028 to early 2029, with costs potentially reaching €2 billion.
Ciaran Cuffe criticised Transport Minister Darragh O'Brien for 'stalling on DART+ South West till 2030', calling it 'quite an own goal' and linking the delay to climate policy failures.
Sinn Féin's Darren O'Rourke TD criticised the Minister's failure to implement the review's key recommendation that from September 2025 the distance criteria be reduced — this has not been implemented.
The Journal reported that DART+ South West construction was originally hoped to begin in 2025/2026 but has been pushed out to at least 2030, described as a four-year delay that 'flies in the face' of climate and transport goals.
The Government's 2025 Waiting List Action Plan targeted 50% of patients waiting less than Sláintecare targets (10 weeks outpatient, 12 weeks inpatient/day-case). By end of 2025, only 31.8% of outpatients and 41.2% of inpatients were within target — the goal was significantly missed.
The Minister for Health published the Waiting Time Action Plan 2026 targeting Sláintecare goals of 10 weeks for outpatient and 12 weeks for inpatient/day case. However, waiting lists grew by 86,300 patients in 2025.
Reuters reported that the initial earlier cut to excise duty of 15 cent per litre on petrol and 20 cent on diesel was part of a €250 million energy package, with the subsequent €505 million package layering additional 10 cent cuts on top, confirming the cumulative nature of the 27c/32c totals.
The National Children's Hospital has missed at least 18 planned completion deadlines. As of March 2026, the opening could be pushed to spring, summer, or even autumn 2027, with costs ballooning to approximately €2.2 billion.
€80 million in Exchequer funding for the First Home Scheme in 2025, matched by participating banks (€160 million total), to support the purchase of approximately 2,000 homes.
The Irish Government announced a €505 million fuel support package on 12 April 2026, including a further 10 cent (VAT inclusive) reduction in excise on petrol (bringing total reduction to 27 cent/litre) and on diesel (bringing total reduction to 32 cent/litre), plus a €100 million Fuel Subsidy Support Scheme for farmers, agricultural contractors, and fishers. Announced by Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Simon Harris.
Critics labeled the €505 million package a 'panic package' intended to stall fuel protests rather than address root causes, with concerns that the measures were insufficient to address rising fuel costs in the longer term.
Minister Heydon announced details of the €100 million Fuel Subsidy Support Scheme: approximately 120,000 farmers and 1,500 full-time agricultural contractors eligible, with support rate of approximately 20 cents per litre (€200 per 1,000 litres), running from March to July 2026 with €20 million disbursed per month. Up to €5 million per month allocated for fishers, forestry, and specialist horticulture.
The excise duty reductions took effect from midnight on 14 April 2026, with the total reductions confirmed at 27 cent/litre on petrol, 32 cent/litre on diesel, and 7.4 cent/litre on marked gas oil (green diesel). These reductions run until 31 July 2026.
Fuel prices began to fall at Irish pumps following the excise cuts taking effect, with some stations reporting drops of up to 10 cent per litre, though the industry warned full reductions would take several days to filter through as older stock was sold.
The Oireachtas (Irish Parliament) officially recorded the total reduced excise amounts in a parliamentary question response: 32 cent per litre of diesel, 27 cent per litre of petrol, and 7.4 cent per litre of green diesel.